May 29, 2009

Garden City, N.Y. - Adelphi University had six student-athletes recognized by the magazine Diverse Issues in Higher Education as Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholars as announced on May 27th. Seniors Patrick Figueiredo, Danielle Parks, Jasmine Travers and Amanda Herrera joined juniors Jeff Perez and Jenilee Fuertes as honorees. Adelphi was the only East Coast Conference member school with student-athletes honored.

Figueiredo is the 2007 and 2008 Atlantic Soccer Conference (ASC) Player of the Year as well as a 2008 CoSIDA Academic All-American, a first-team Arthur Ashe scholar he boasts a 3.78 GPA. He is also a three-time first-team all-conference selection and an NSCAA all-region selection in 2006 in addition to being ranked among the top-15 in the country in two statistical categories. Figueiredo is eighth in the nation in goals per game (0.83) and 14th in points per game (1.72).

Fuertes, a first-team Arthur Ashe scholar, was a 2009 ECC all-conference selection in cross-country, helping the Panthers to their third straight conference crown. A Psychology major with a 3.78 GPA, she was also a USTFCCCA Division II All-Academic selection after helping Adelphi to a third place team finish at the East Regional.

Women's Basketball players, Danielle Parks and Jasmine Travers were each second-team selections along with women's soccer player Amanda Herrera and cross-country and track athlete Jeff Perez. Parks earned a 3.55 GPA, while majoring in communications as Travers posted a GPA of 3.50 in nursing. Herrera, an exercise science major has a GPA of 3.49, while Perez pulled in a 3.63 GPA in business.

Diverse Issues In Higher Education established the Sports Scholars Awards to honor undergraduate students of color who have made achieving both academically and athletically a winning combination. To be included, students have to compete in an intercollegiate sport; maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2; and be active on their campuses or in their communities.